The Rise of the Casual Christian Tribe

Religious researcher George Barna has named a new Tribe on the religious spectrum, the Casual Christian. Barna writes,

“Casual Christianity is faith in moderation. It allows them to feel religious without having to prioritize their faith. Christianity is a low-risk, predictable proposition for this tribe, providing a faith perspective that is not demanding. A Casual Christian can be all the things that they esteem: a nice human being, a family person, religious, an exemplary citizen, a reliable employee – and never have to publicly defend or represent difficult moral or social positions or even lose much sleep over their private choices as long as they mean well and generally do their best. From their perspective, their brand of faith practice is genuine, realistic and practical. To them, Casual Christianity is the best of all worlds; it encourages them to be a better person than if they had been irreligious, yet it is not a faith into which they feel compelled to heavily invest themselves.”

For the full article read HERE

The Big Story - Where do you fit in?

Even Sweeter: Locals welcome new coffeehouse ministry in Poland

By Gina Grate Pottenger on Sep 29, 2009

Poznan, Poland––When they opened the coffee shop for a test run on September 19, Everett Tustin and his wife Rhonda didn’t know what to expect. The missionary couple in Poznan, Poland, along with their eight volunteers, hadn’t been able to advertise the event, but had simply mailed 100 invitations to friends and acquaintances, baked trays of sweets, scheduled several musical artists and prayed.

The candle-lit “Sweet Surrender” venue had seating for 43 guests. Fifteen minutes after opening, Tustin counted 75 people. When live music began at 7:30 p.m. and the count had hit 150, guests continued squeezing in.

“Everybody was so happy, there was so much laughter in the rooms and so much talking,” said Mission Corps volunteer Katie Fitch, who served as a barista for the night. “We had neighbors that didn’t know each other at all just sitting around tables talking and laughing and having a good time.”

It wasn’t long before the team ran out of clean serving cups, glasses and trays. Tustin washed load after load of dishes to keep up with the orders. By the end of the night, an estimated 200 people had sampled drinks, desserts and enjoyed the conversation and live music that continued until 10 p.m.

The Poznan shop will open formally as soon as a contstruction permit to repair the front steps is approved, but “if Saturday is any indication at all, the Lord has a big plan in mind,” said Tustin.

The first Sweet Surrender coffee house opened for ministry 10 months ago in Gdansk, Poland, designed to build relationships and minister to the needs of people in the neighborhood with the love of Christ. In Poznan, those relationships were brewing well before the soft opening.

One young Polish woman poured out hours of volunteer time as the shop’s business manager. Another woman who knew the mayor’s wife put in a good word for the coffeehouse when its paperwork got hung up in red tape.

An accomplished musician who performs throughout Europe agreed to play at the soft opening, and asked if he could appear there again. A local coffee house supplier offered to train the staff for free.

A woman in Rhonda’s ladies’ fellowship had recently closed her own coffee shop and sold her coffee machines and serving pieces to the ministry for half-price. Much of it was less than a year old.

“It’s neat to see how each person who’s become connected with the shop has really just been lit on fire about volunteering and helping in any way they can,” said Mission Corps volunteer Lindy Bennett. “They’re drawn to Christ in this place.”


Lindy Bennett (left), a Mission Corps volunteer from Bryan College Station, Texas,
performed for Sweet Surrender guests on Sept. 19.

Coffeehouses, pubs and restaurants are where many of Europe’s young people meet with friends to talk about life and sometimes spirituality and faith, no matter what faith they do or do not claim. To the team, it offers a natural venue for sharing life and faith with Polish neighbors.

“The coffehouses present a non-threatening method of presenting the gospel,” said Northern Euope Field Strategy Coordinator Philip McAlister. “They give opportunity to make contact with people and provide a pleasant atmosphere in which to have spiritual conversations.”

Housed in the ground floor of a 100-year-old apartment building, Sweet Surrender is located a block from Poznan’s central crossroads. One of the main tram routes passes close enough that the building shakes when the trams go by.

“It’s obvious in the faces of people that we see on the tram or walking on the street that nobody looks happy and there’s a lot of hurting people,” Fitch said. “I think that if we can get to know them we can share with them the answer to their pain.”


Katie Fitch, Mission Corps volunteer, Pittsburgh, California, was overwhelmed
with drink orders at the soft opening.

In the city of 600,000 people, there are no other coffee houses near Sweet Surrender, although they are numerous in the city square about 20 minutes away. Sweet Surrender is also one of the few coffee houses in Poznan offering live music, conversational English classes, art exhibits and Christian worship services on Saturday evenings.

Formerly an apartment, the coffee house has four different rooms, so it will remain open during worship services. Guests can relax in adjacent seating areas or slip into the service where a dozen people meet each week. There’s room for about 25, so when the worshippers outnumber available seating, they’ll add services on weeknights.

“There’s been a lot of curiosity and buzz about this shop,” Bennett said. “They’re just curious… about how odd it is to hear that the church would come in the form of a coffee shop. They have been truly receptive to what is going on here. That’s what’s making this really effective.”

This article is from Engage magazinehttp://www.engagemagazine.com/Home.aspx

Do you think this model would work as we seek to engage with our communities?

Replanting: The Story (prt two by Scott Thomas)

The Puritan Idea
In October of 2002, I felt the strong tug of God to become more effective in reaching the unchurched and in structuring the mission of the church more in line with the historical model of the apostles mainly found in the Book of Acts. As a Reformed Baptist, I have read extensively about the Reformation of the church and about the Puritans. Their goal for the church was to renew it back to the pattern of the Bible and away from the traditions of their culture.

The Dream
I dreamed of a body that loved the Lord, loved his word, loved the church, and loved the calling from God to be instruments of righteousness in their community. I dreamed of a people who practiced spiritual holiness, rather than judging others for their lack of adherence to man-made rules. I dreamed of marriages that visibly demonstrated the relationship of Christ and the church. I dreamed of homes that were led by the Holy Spirit, by godly heads of households and by the Scriptures.
I dreamed of a church that had influence in its community: spiritually, morally, evangelistically, and socially. I dreamed of a church that served willingly and enthusiastically according to their spiritual gifts, passions, and God-given abilities.
I dreamed of a church body that had a burning passion to share the gospel in their city, their state, their nation, and their world and to be a vital link for the establishment of churches all across the world. I dreamed of a body that had an insatiable thirst to encounter God in a real, personal, and intimate way.

The Recurring Nightmare
But was it just a dream? Could it be realized? Was I stuck in an endless continuum of leading one self-centered, apathetic, prideful, spiritually-arrogant, biblically-ignorant church after another with no real lasting change? I have always abhorred contented mediocrity, and yet I found myself again in an average church with an above-average indebtedness and a below-average love for one another. That was not exactly what I had hoped for. My own spiritual enthusiasm had grown average itself—and that was on a good day. Had my dream become instead a recurring nightmare of mundane Christianity? I was discouraged and disappointed with myself.
My discouragement did not lead to hopelessness. I fought through the overwhelming struggles to make financial ends meet with the clear call of God to be more spiritually effective. My top priority was to meet with God but that meeting was often overshadowed by meetings with refinancing organizations, with bankers, with creditors, with private loan resources. I felt as a church we had become more responsive to the call of finances than we were to the call of God. I had never made decisions based on finance, until this time. The financial demands were high ($16,000 per month mortgage) and the resources were weak (primarily low enrollment in the affiliated Christian school).

A Whole New Church
I felt the only way to be effective and remain faithful to this church (having served for less than a year at that time) was to start a new church in our youth center with a whole new approach to church ministry. I presented the idea to my pastoral staff. Their response was mixed, but they believed in me and hung on to that even though they couldn't fully catch the vision I had received from God.
They were enthusiastic, however, about the possibility of doing ministry like the New Testament instead of in accordance with the much-too-common phrase heard around the church, "This is the way we've always done it." No one really knew why we did it that way; it was just familiar and comfortable to the staff and congregation.
As a staff, we worked on details and vision for the new church, now called The Encounter Church. It was a regular part of our weekly staff meetings. In fact, it was the most fervent part of our meetings. I passionately worked on ideas for our new church plant and shared them with staff at our subsequent meetings.

First Approval
In January 2003, the church officers (highest ruling body at the time) approved the starting of The Encounter Church. I am not sure they fully knew what it was about, but at least they accepted the idea enough to pursue it from a church-wide basis. I announced it at the annual church business meeting in mid-January and held my breath when I said it would be a church, not just a Bible study.
Very little excitement was generated from that meeting. I guess they had heard unusual ideas at those business meetings before. Perhaps they never came to fruition and they were expecting (hoping?) this one would die as the others. Their silence to me, however, was the primitus annuo (first approval) that we needed to go forward.

God Changes The Plan
One unsettling incident happened in the early spring of that year. Tyler (the student pastor) and I were visiting a church member in the hospital. The hospitalized lady was not available for another hour. While waiting for her, we went to lunch and discussed the ideas we had for the new church. We were both caught being more interested in The Encounter Church than we were in discussing our current church.
I stopped and looked at him and said, "Do you realize we have been talking about Encounter for over an hour and we are both filled with energy and zeal. Do you think that would be true if we had been discussing our original church?" He was silent. I did not realize at the time how that incident would be a seed that would not germinate for a few months.
In May, Tyler and I went to Seattle to attend a church planting conference and to view a couple of churches in that area who held to a similar vision to the one we were pursuing. After attending a 100-person church on Sunday morning and a 1,700-person church in the evening, I pulled Tyler aside and asked him if he felt God was calling us to plant a new church or if he was calling us to replant our current church. He didn't know what to say.
I had heard the disconcerting statement that 3,500 churches in America are closing their doors every year. I had also heard the alarming statement that the church planting organization we were there to learn from (

the Acts 29 Network) had a 100% success rate, compared to the 20% success rate of other church planting attempts.
During the conference and immediately afterward, I sensed a clear call of God to get into the replanting of churches in America, beginning with our church. That is all God had used me to do in the previous pastorates and I had acceded to that calling. I didn't know the extent of that call and I didn't know it included our current church, a 60-year-old church with a rich history.

A Missional Church on Purpose
Many churches had indeed started out as missional churches. To be missional means that the individual members and the body as a whole understand and follow their calling from God to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ fervently to as many people as the Holy Spirit would lead. It means that we are engaged in personal relationships with the lost on purpose in order to show them the love of Christ and how he sacrificed his Son to die for our sins so that we could escape the condemnation already placed upon us as sinners by birth. It is not unusual for a church to lose their vision—our church was no exception.
In general, the congregation where we served did not spend time with unbelievers. In fact, every effort was done to ensure that we would come out from among them and remain separate. Our accompanying Christian school sometimes fed that separatist philosophy. Our church had become a church that had been trained to rapidly identify the lost (by outward appearances) and run from them, fearing their personal holiness would be stained by some contagious strain of sin.

Church Business Is Not The Mission
This church had become an institutional church and I had no interest in running an institution. That would be crazy! It had become a church business staying busy under the roof of the church, and had forgotten that our business is to share Christ with those who have never been under the roof of the church. Our mission is to share Christ with others who, when redeemed themselves, will be affected in such a profound way that they will in turn share Christ with their lost acquaintances, relatives, and friends.
Before my tenure, our church had contracted a consulting firm, and their conclusion was that it was a church for the "already churched community." We had to become personally missional and not leave the evangelism up to the paid staff and the foreign missions program, in which the church found inordinate pride.

A Whole New Church, Again
God called me to lead this church to become a whole new church. We did not try to turn the Winnebago around in a tight cul-de-sac, but we rather traded it in for a whole new vehicle. Jesus said we can't put a new patch on an old garment. Instead, we start again brand new so that Christ's message will be as fresh now as it was in 33 A.D. (

Matt. 9:16-17). I felt strongly called by God to lead the entire church body to follow Christ and replant this church, instead of planting a brand new church with those who desired change. We had to decide if we had the faith to follow God's leading. We did not ever want to be the same!
“And who would patch an old garment with unshrunk cloth? For the patch shrinks and pulls away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger hole than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved.” (Matt. 9:16-17 NLT)
To be continued.

How to Start a Disability Ministry (from building church leaders)

I found this video clip,had some good points to help us think about this often unspoken ministry. Yes, it is very american but it is a good starting point.

Has anybody been involved in ministry to people with disabilities of any kind? Share your experience with us, let us know what you have learnt or think we need to learn.
Hope this clip it may be of use to you.

http://www.buildingchurchleaders.com/multimedia/articles/howtostartadisabilityministry.html

Church Planting - thoughts and views

Hi all,

I have a deep belief that the Australian church of the Nazarene needs to 'plant' new churches. How we go about this is the million dollar question.
What are your thoughts regarding our current church situtaion and should we be intentionally seeking ways to start new churches?
I know we dont have the pastors, and maybe we could say we dont have the 'money' but i do believe we have a mission to fulfill.
How many people would be interested in starting a new church?
How would you go about doing it?
where abouts in Australia do you think a new church plant is needed and would work?
Thoughts, ideas, rebukings?

Why people 'pick' a church

Top 13 Reasons that Unchurched People Choose a Church(research conducted by Ranier)

90% - Pastor/Preaching
88% - Doctrines
49% - Friendliness of Members
42% - Other Issues
41% - Someone Church Witnessed to Me
38% - Family Member
37% - Sensed God’s Presence/Atmosphere of Church
25% - Relationship Other than Family Member
25% - Sunday School Class
25% - Children’s/Youth Ministry
12% - Other Groups/Ministries
11% - Worship Style/Music
7% - Location

Top 9 Reasons that Church-Attenders Choose a Church(research conducted by the Barna Group in 1999)

58% - Doctrine/Theology
53% - People Caring for Each Other
52% - Preaching
45% - Friendliness
45% - Children’s Programs
43% - Helping the Poor
36% - Denomination
35% - Like the Pastor
26% - Sunday School

Top 6 Things that Keep the Formerly Unchurched Active in the Church(research conducted by Ranier)

62% - Ministry Involvement
55% - Sunday School
54% - Obedience to God
49% - Fellowship of Members
38% - Pastor/Preaching
14% - Worship Services

The statistics speak for themselves. Overall, doctrine, the pastor and his preaching, and the friendliness and fellowship of the congregation are the most influential qualities.

http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/archives/2009/07/why_people_pick.html

Church Blesses Fathers with Beer!

Something worth a quick read, maybe they are a little more progressive than i thought? :)
Here is the Link:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5587035/Church-blesses-fathers-with-beer.html
Peace (or should i say 'cheers' *burping and clinking of glasses*)

Why young adults leave the church part 5 of 5 - Mark Sayers

Reason #5 -Commitmentphobia
Last time we spoke about the effect of the worldview of consumerism on the spiritual lives of Young Adults. One of the flow on effects of the worldview of consumerism is that it has a caustic, corrosive effect upon our ability to commit. I remember asa kid seeing a shirt that I wanted to buy, I had my money, and was ready to head to the cash register, when my mother taught me a key tactic known to every shopper, that is shopping around for a better bargain. We headed off to the others stores to see if the same shirt was on sale for a cheaper price. Hyper-Consumerism has taught us all to be good shoppers in almost every arena of life, we have learnt to not commit and hang on for the better bargain. For consumerism tooperate effectively as a system, it needs a low commitment environment.
We only have to look at the arena of human sexuality to see how the world view of consumerism has shaped our behaviour. Consumerism shapes our civic life, and our community habits. In all areas we are taught to hold off, and not commit. In my book The Trouble With Paris I write,

"We run from those promises and covenants that humans have made to each other for thousands of years because they frighten us to death. Many today fear such commitment-based social institutions because self now takes precedence over commitment. As the worldview of hyperconsumerism has taken hold of our imaginations, everything has become shopping. We must not become entangled in commitments, because they could limit our options on finding something better. This constant search for something better means that the supershoppers of hyperconsumerism are still waiting for a better deal after the mall has closed and then are forced to return home empty-handed. Or we find ourselves always on the move, searching for a home that shifts and shimmies over the horizon. We keep up this restlessness as our fears of not being stimulated take over.
The key to life, we are told, is to keep holding out for that perfect bargain. But the less we commit, the more we become passive. We never make a move; instead, we simply stand and watch life go by. Our fear of commitment has turned us into passive consumers."

Of course this deeply effects how we view church. In my experience most young adults would view staying in a church for three years as a long term commitment. Most seem to re-examine their commitment to communities of faith on a rolling 12 month basis, this contractual view of church attendance is based on a fear of ‘missing out’ on something better. I would say that this level of commitment is pretty standard wherever I go. Needless to very few churches or denominations are taking this issue very seriously despite the obvious devastating effect on our churches both now and in the future.

Why young adults leave the Church Part 4 of 5 - Mark Sayers

Reason 4 -Consumerist Spirituality

Today young adults worldview is deeply shaped by consumerism; it shapes how we purchase, how we relate, and howwe shape our identities. In my research into why young adults leave church,I found consumerism to be one of the most dominant themes to emerge again and again. Many people had written excellent books on how Christians should be responding to theeconomic and justice issuesraised byconsumerism. But very fewChristiansseemed to be examining how consumerism wasaffecting out spirituality.
The worldview of consumerism deeplyinfluences our spirituality. It creates an exchange were we expect instant returns for our investments. I constantly hear from youngleaders who have left church after spending years volunteering their time. They tell me that they feel ripped off, that they have given and gotten nothing back, they view discipleship not as self-sacrificing service but rather a consumer exchange, in which instant gratification is sought. I kept finding youngadults who when pressed were happy to follow Christ as long as he delivered a kind of consumerist heaven on earth. When this kind of heaven did not arrive, people became very disillusioned. Of course theadvertising industry did not get the blame, God did, and active faith was ditched. In my book The Trouble With Paris I write,

"In a scene in Kevin Smith’s irreverent religious satire Dogma, the Roman Catholic Church decides that the crucifix is an irrelevant symbol for today. They believe that the image of a half-naked man dying on a cross is not an appealing brand logo. Instead, they come up with what they call "Buddy Jesus." Buddy Jesus looks like a cross between a Sunday school picture book image of Jesus and an action hero. He is cartoonlike, winking and giving a thumbs-up sign.… My friend Darryl Gardiner says this is Jesus as something like a "cool waiter" in some hip café. He doesn’t get too caught up in rules and simply wants
you to have a good time. Research done in both the United States and Australia is backing up this view, revealing that young adults view God something akin to a "cosmic butler" to be called on in times of strife or need, but who then quietly exits so as not to cramp our style. Such a Jesus ultimately becomes subservient to us and our agenda. We rob him of his divinity, instead placing it upon ourselves. Jesus thus becomes the herald of lifestyle improvement; we follow him because he might be able to deliver us the consumer dream."

When we follow God because we are expecting a kind of consumer pay off; we have invested in a faith that cannot last, you can only church shop for so long. When we worship a God who we believe will make our dreams come true we are not following the God of the bible. Believers who live out their faith through the matrix of consumerism will end up almost definitely outside of the church and very disappointed.

Why young adults leave the church Part 3 of 5 - Mark Sayers

Reason # 3 -The Pornification of ChristianResources

Recently an Otaku(Manga Fan) wrote a book which has sold like sushi in Japan. His book was addressed to the millions of young Japanese men who live their lives online and who immerse themselves in the fantasy worlds of Japanese animation. His thesis was that advances in technology now mean that young men do not need RL (real life) relationships with real world women. He argued that with the advent of ‘mistress programs’( virtual girlfriend computer programs, kind of like Tamagotchi’s but featuring attractive young women), no longer did men need to bother with ordinary women. He also argued that with the growth of the internet and with widespread availability of pornography, young men could enjoy a kind of virtual sexual relationship with the women of their dreams.
We see the same thing in thein the West, less people are getting married than ever before in history.With the casualization of sex, young men do not need to commit to long term relationships with women, because these days you can sleep withthat girlwho you just met at a party and still be home in time to join the FIFA 2008 tournament with the boys on the playstation.
A kind of similar phenomenon is occurring around church. I am constantly meeting young adults who are still passionate about their faith, but are no longer part of a faith community. When I ask them why, they tell me that there is no need. I ask them how they grow as Christians? They will tell me that they download podcasts from some of the worlds best preachers, they watch sermons on line from cutting edge churches, they read books from well known Christian writers, and attend all kinds of conferences and worship seminars. Some even regularly go on ‘mission trips’ to the third world. Many now choose to not go totheir local church because every Sunday they can roll out of bed at midday and turn on Christian cable and watch services from the world’s most successful churches.

They read blogs and frequent Christian chat rooms to connect with other believers. Like the Japanese Otakuthey feel that technology has superseded their need for real world -real time relationships.
In many ways I feel sorry for local pastors who nowhave to’compete’ with thecreamofthe world’s bestspeakers; that they have to explain to their young adults why their worship service cannot compete with thelarge convention that is run with a giant budget, and who feel that they have to apologise as to why faithful old Agnes on the organ is not up to the standard of the professional worship band on the album they just downloaded. I can’tbut help thinking that they must feellike a forty something mother of two who has to compete with their husbands obsession with a twenty year old Brazilian supermodel.
Now of course I think that it is great that all of this stuff is available, technology has brought all kinds of brilliant resources and influences into reach. Yet technology always cuts both ways. When technology replaces our need for real time community we suffer as humans. My friend and colleague Dave Fuller once said to me ‘Church is important because it forces us to be in community with people who are not like us’. Philip Yancey once said that ‘Marriage is not about finding happiness it is about character development’. I think it is the same with church.
Without community the mere consumption of Christianresources can be a kind of pornification.Pornography is a one way exchange, it is a consumptive sexual act that is divorced from relationship. Devoid of human connection, it turns both the viewed and the viewer into an object. In contrast relationality humanizes, it moves us towards what the great Jewish theologian Martin Buber called an I-Thou encounter. If I consume pornography it requires nothing of me,I remain static; however my relationship with my wifeinspires me tobe kind, caringandunderstanding;it prompts and provokes
me towards growing as a human being. It is dynamic, it makes me want to be a better man. When we only consume Christian resources,it may challenge us, it may add to our knowledge, but nothing challenges us towards actual lifestyle change like Christian community. When you are in church and that guy with schizophrenia who yells in public wants to come outto Starbuckswith you and your friends after the service, it is good for you! God is teaching you something that mere information cannot. When you sit and worship and nut out the gospel with people who were born indifferent cultures to you, who vote different to you, who you don’t understand, who you would never normally make friends with; it grows you spiritually in ways that mere information gathering and teaching cannot.
So go nuts, download, read blogs and books, watch teaching DVD’s, go to seminars, whatever; just remember however these things cannot give you the medicine for your soul that only covenantal Christian community can.

Why Young adult leave church...Part 2 of 5

Part 2...
#2 Reasons
Post-Christian Identity
If you are a young adult believer living out your faith at the beginning of the 21st century, you find yourself in a unique social position. You are living within a culture which has known, and now discarded Christianity as at best an irrelevance or at worst a mistake. This is a relativley new situation when we compared with the people of God in other times and places in history.
Biblical faith has almost always been about being in a minority. The Jews found themselves a small minority, often overrun by their militarily and culturally powerful neighbours. The early church also found themselves in a similar position; as theylived out their faithin the shadows of the Roman Empire.
Beingpart of a marginal community is always difficult, it does not matter if that group is ethnic, cultural or religious. Holding a different worldview to those around you is tough, it raises all kinds of questions of identity and belonging in the mind of the member of the minority culture. All minority groups face the reality of assimilation and syncretism with the larger and more powerful cultures that they live in. As humans we love to fit in, we love to be on the larger, winning team.
However many minorities find themselves strengthened by their minority position. Often this is achieved by having a sense of mission, a cultural sense of purpose, in which the minority group defines itself by the ‘justness’ of itscause in contrast to the surrounding culture. However many young adult Christians are experiencing a kind of creeping doubt over the ‘justness’ of their faith; they hear the culture’s critique of Christianity’s contribution to the world and it start’s to make sense to them.
The early church lived in a pre-Christian culture, otherbelievers in the world today live in cultures that are Islamic, Animist, or Buddhist; however we live in a culture which is primarily Post-Christian.

Western culturehasbought the suit of Christianity,put iton, worn it around town for a bit, and now has returned it to the store, unhappy withits purchase, and is seeking a refund. Dan Brown swims in a sea of money because his book The Da Vinci Code, although historically ridiculous, connected deeply with the sense that many have today that the church in its union with worldly power has more damaged than blessed the world. Many intelligent and earnest people today in the secular West believe that the church is an agent of evil.
Many Christian young adults feel that they are living on the wrong side of Christian history. When they sharetheir faith with their secular friends they are reminded of paedophile priests, fundamentalismand the Spanish inquisition. When they share their faith with their Muslim friends,inevitably the Crusades will enter the conversation.When they share their faithwith their Jewish friends,oldpainful stories that have been past down for generations , memories ofghetto’s, pogroms and’Christian’ Germanyengineering the Holocaust, will be heard again.
Christianity is perceivedin the popular imagination as being intellectually ludicrous, our behaviour and opinions are seen as bigoted. Whilst obviously I disagree with these assessments, they are a daily reality for manyyoung adultstrying to live out their faith in the secular world. I recently spoke with a young adult who works in a secular welfare job, she had only been in the job a few days and had not informed her co-workers that she was a Christian. Her colleagues were masters of politically correct language, who were at great pains to avoid using any language which could be seen as prejudiced. However when news came that a new position was going to be filled by a Christian, her colleagues could not contain their rancour, openly speaking of their disappointment and disgust that a Christian was going to be working
with them.
This sort of culturalintolerance around faith creates a great tension in the believer. I am constantlyapproached by young adults who are trying to reconcile theirfaith with thedisquiet that they feel over Christianity’s disputed historical track record.While Christians and historians will debate this, it is stilla daily issuefor many young adults today who live, study, work and operate within secular culture.
For many young adults who are trying to find a place in the world, to operate and ‘fit in’ within culture, the dislocation felt becomes too much,faith is left behind as identity and belonging islooked for outside of church walls.

Why Young Adults Leave the Church (by Mark Sayers)

5 Reasons why young adults leave the Church....

Reason #1
Choice Anxiety
Well here we go, in no particular order, reason number one why Young Adults are leaving the church. Ladies and Gents introducing…(drum roll please)…Choice Anxiety.If you live in the West you are rich, not just financially, but you enjoy an affluence of options and choices.
On one hand this is fantastic, we have access to millions of opportunities and experiences that our forebears could never dream of. But the flipside of this abundance of choice means that we become paralysed in the face of a million possibilities, choices and variables. Barry Schwartz in his book The Paradox of Choice notes that the more choices we are given, the more our well -being and happiness deteriorates. Why? Because whatever choice we make we are always comparing our decisions to the myriad of other possible choices. Thus we can never be at peace with the paths that we take, we are always comparing and fretting, we are stuck with a constant gut level anxiety or angst over our choices.
Add to this the fact that daily we are confronted with thousands of advertising messages all of which are designed by experts and marketing psychologists, and each has the purpose to make us feel discontent with our lives in order to make new purchases, and you can see why we are stuck in choice anxiety.
Churches are now seeing a similar marketing driven form of choice anxiety. As churchesstruggle to make inroads missionally in Western cultures, churches are becoming more and more sophisticated and competitive in their marketing to believers, thus many churchescontribute toChristians feeling less satisfied where they are. Iremember catching up with a Young Adult pastor of a large and successful young adults ministry. He was absolutely beside himself with worry over a rumour thatwell known church wasgoing to plant in his suburb. He told me that he estimated that if this happened he could losehundreds of his young adults.

How does this play out in the faith lives of young adults? Christian young adults are stuck with a constant splinter in the mind, the never ending nagging feeling that they might have made the wrong decision. Maybe they have chosen the wrong church to attend? Should they be at the hip contemporary mega-church down the road? Or maybe they should try the small emerging church in the next suburb? Or should they rejoin their friends and family at the traditional church that they grew up in? Did they even makeright choice in following Christ?Maybe they should move Cities, States, Countries? Should they change partners, careers, lifestyles, ethics?
All of these factorscreate a constant and nagging feeling that young adults must leave their churches in order to find fulfilment. However as soon as you move and set your tent down, that nagging feeling returns. Sadlymore andmoreyoung adult believers areexperiencing aharried, exhausting and restless spiritual homelessness.

Any thoughts on Sayers views? (by the way Sayers is an Australian)